 ThinkTec Hawaii, civil engagement lives here. Welcome back to human humane architecture in milieu of hurricane lane. We are broadcasting live from still sort of safe. The tropical tiki headquarters of Honolulu, Hawaii. And talking tiki, for that we have a very special guest in the vent who is someone who is very familiar to us. And that's our every other week's course to Soto Brown, the Lotus Soto. That is me. And you said this is the tiki capital, but you know, that's a really good point because one of the points that we've been just talking about is we think of tiki culture and the entire popularity of tiki, Hawaiian, tropical, exotica as having its roots here. But in fact, there's not much left. This is a mid-century thing, which has tapered off a great deal. So let's dive into that, bring the first picture up and you are heavily scholarly engaged in that subject and have just been a keynote speaker on what? Well I went to an event called tiki oasis and that is located in San Diego and it happens every year. And every year there's a different theme. This year it was South Sea Cinema. But the entire point is to celebrate this tiki culture as I was mentioning of the tropical exoticism that was popular in the mid-century of the 20th century. All kinds of things go on in tiki oasis and I can talk to you about some because I took pictures of some of these things. Thank you, thank you. Let's bring the next slide here where we see there's a couple of events indoors and outdoors. But we first want to focus on what we see is the symposiums and let's go to the next page already here that shows you and your audience at your two talks that you had. Correct. So I just want to talk about your peers and their talks which somehow featured here. I did these sort of screenshots, snapshots of the program and I was surprised that many of them had in one way or another to deal with us here in Hawaii, right? Yes, and they also talked a lot about architecture. So they talked about tropical or exotic styles of architecture and that's what we're going to be talking about. We're going to be touching on a great deal this time. The way the tiki culture or the exotica culture spread to a lot of different places including Europe as you personally experienced. So those are the many types of things that come up within this concept of tiki. Yeah, yeah. And not only in the realm of architecture but also in the realm of movies. That's the next picture here. That's just another screenshot of one of the talks here, Hollywood Icons of tiki cinema. And once again, here's someone who looks very familiar to us and we ran a show about Hawaii 5.0 and there we go. Again, tiki is very closely associated with our place here. Yeah, absolutely. And next page is, and this made you laugh because I was spelling this taboo and I shared with you that I for the longest time until now thought this was a German word but maybe not so much. No, it's not. It is a Polynesian word and there are many different Polynesian languages and Hawaiian is one of them and in Hawaiian the word is kapu. But in other Polynesian languages it's taboo. So that's not a German word, it actually comes from the Pacific. Oh boy. Yeah, but that is a German film, you're right. It was directed by a German film director 1930, 31, 32. And that topic is obviously touches on the erotic of the exonics very much and there is a spin off that is the next page which is the burlesque, right? Right. And this is part of this whole thing. It's a revival of lots of different things that were going on in the 20th century. So burlesque, striptease but of that old fashioned style and then there were go-go dancers which I was very excited about. I like 60s go-go dancers and they existed at tiki oasis as well. We're missing out on another genre which is music. You just mentioned called it exotica and there was a music movement that we talked about in the shows. There certainly was. Tiki who is trying to keep that alive, right? That's right. But let's get the curve and get back to architecture which you promised. The next page you want to share with us the locations and one of the two locations is this one here, right? Right. So in San Diego there are a number of tiki themed original 50s buildings. One of them is a restaurant called the Bali High. I had the pleasure of having dinner there. It no longer looks the way it did in the 50s but also in the same location which is called Shelter Island which is a boat marina. There are other very dramatic tiki themed restaurants and hotels located there as well in addition to the hotel that I stayed at for this event. And the little reference I made at the very top here is when I flew back over Christmas last time I got stranded at the other end of the west coast up there in Seattle and ended up as it was meant to be in a tiki hotel, right? But the actual one you stayed in let's look at that one next page. Yeah. So this originally was built as the Hanalei Hotel in the 1950s and although it has lost a lot of its original detailing because it had a very dramatic tiki entryway etc. It still does have a variety of small elements that we were seeing some of and pay attention to what you see on the roof line there because we're going to be referencing that a little later in this show too. So let's go a little bit what you see in the middle next page which is the center piece of the architecture is the courtyard so we can, yeah, there we are. And so in this courtyard space they're using a lot of the elements that are noted for in the tiki movement. So we see the basalt rock, we see the carvings and we see in the distance there's sort of a tiki hut, a hula hut. Let's take a closer look at that at the next page. And there it is inside and it's got as it's light fixture, a blue glass ball, a fishing float, also the carvings that are on the railing and then it's got a imitation, excuse me, thatched roof to mimic the way people built things in the South Pacific. And it's all floating next page on another feature of tiki which is water, right? Here these artificial lagoons and then you got guardrails, they're rather sort of archaic and have these sort of totem poles as post, right? Yes. So let's go to the next page and sort of they introduce another feature of figure when my dear friend Phyllis Richardson, hi Phyllis was here for her son, her son charged her to bring something freaky tiki. So we were walking around and obviously these are these little statues or figures which you brought one by the way here. I did, I did and here it is, let me get them in space. That's a moai. It's an Easter Island moai and I'll talk about how I got him in just a minute. All right, so let's look at a couple more of these in the next page. Right, and this is at the Bali Hai restaurant elsewhere in San Diego. On the left is a big carving that you see as you walk in which doesn't really look like anything traditional but on the right next to where you check in to get your reservation is a Marquesan style tiki carving, again, not a real thing but inspired by actual carvings from the Marquesas Islands which are in French Polynesia. So let's look at a couple more next page. You took pictures of them and I put them together in this sort of collage way so there's different themes and different sort of, you know, messages and figures. Exactly. And it's all, and I think you always point out this isn't an interpretation of culture, this isn't truly historical, this isn't sort of culturally correct. Absolutely. But it's sort of an imagination of something. Yeah, and all of these different carvings were in the hotel, in the Honolay hotel and some of them are inspired by actual ones. If you look at the carving on the right, that's copied from Ku, who is a Hawaiian god, the other ones, who knows. And some were used in the next page for film sets, you told me the one on the left and there are also some for sale, right, on the right. So there were carvers who were selling their wares there and as you said on the left is a big carving that's a movie prop that was rented from a business that just rents props for films in Southern California and that one has actually appeared in some films. So you took the next page as you took a picture of another display which is sort of trying to map out in a cartoonish way, you know, try to give you an idea of sort of the Polynesian realm and sort of tries to theme, tell us a little bit more about that. You told me some interesting stories about that. I think that what you see here is there's a little quasi scientific type of representation, in other words, we're trying to teach you where these come from. In reality, of course, this is just pop culture and this is not truly scientific nor is it really indicative of what these cultures are, but it does give a little relevance so that it isn't quite as light-hearted. We're trying to really teach you something. I don't know about that. It's sort of edutainment. Exactly. Edutainment is exactly it. This is in the Bali High Restaurant as well. And that's next page is one of these cute things you can buy. They're really fun, right? Right. So there's a lot of original art for sale at Tiki Oasis. This is a sculpture that actually moves. It is electrified to two small torches on either end of the canoe, have lights in them, and then these guys actually move their paddles, so as if they are Tiki's paddling themselves in a ceremonial canoe. And I think there was either a previous one or coming up that steams out of the mouth. Maybe we go to the next page already. It's not one of her previous ones. No, there's you. There I am. There I am at Tiki Oasis. Look at that figure. I know my god. You mean me or the Moai? That'd be you. I mean you. There I am. But wasn't that the one that steamed or not? No, that one that steamed was outside. Okay. That was a giant one. Okay. This guy was indoors in the lobby for you to take your pictures with. All right. And on the second, on the left, on the right-hand side, we see this, as you were pointing out, these are modern-day Tiki mugs that are made using licensed, named figures, or characters from Star Trek, from Guardians of the Galaxy, from Marvel Comics. They're called geeky-tikis. So it is a reinterpretation of something that was going on in the 50s, being done now, for collectors. So quite the cross-pollination of things. And next one is something that you told me you had to buy. But also on the right side, you told me that these are all original authentic stuff from the Tiki Hades of the beginning and the middle of the last century. That's still around, and people trade and sell. But of course, as people can already tell, you're working for that institution. You have to buy something. Exactly. Right. So if you look on the left, you see that there's a, this is a display prop that it was at one of the vendors that says Property Abition Museum, which is where I work in real life. And so because I encountered that, I said, okay, I have to buy something from this particular person. So this is where I got my ceramic moai vase. And as you pointed out, we should have put some flowers in it. But in any case, there it is, as a beautiful piece of modern sculpture. So I think I'm hungry at this point. So let's go and eat. Let's go into the restaurants where you went. Next page. Right. So on the left is part of the Bali High dining room. And on the right is the dining room in the hotel in which I stayed, which originally was called the Island's Restaurant and was very mysterious, evocative and very much like a theatrical set. Today, it's a plane room that just has some elements in it. So it lost a lot of its mystery and it lost a lot of the atmosphere it originally had when it was built in the 50s. And it gets even more, you were at the beginning saying a truly ticky restaurant has to be like dark, has to be like a cave, has to be really mysterious, sort of spooky. Yes. If I watch here, this says ticky, ticky monster. Yes, it does. So there is a sort of scary. That's right. You know. That's right. Implications of danger. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Threats. The jungle, right? The jungle, of course. Tigers, things like that. Yeah. So let's go to the next one, which shows the restaurant and some of the light fixtures. And that reminded us of maybe a not so spooky place, which is Orhanalulu Airport that we did a show about. And you see that same sort of Polynesian-interpreted sort of light fixture. Yeah. Which also we referenced in the top of the little picture, the Cocoa Palm Resort, which has a similar chandelier. Yes. They're all sort of these artificial inspirations of interpretation of Polynesian architecture. And very dramatic looking. So let's go back to the island here and see the abundance of ticky places we have here. These are some of many, right? Or not? No. And that's one of the points. It's ironic that they're, in fact, are not as many ticky places here as there used to be or that people would expect. So in the picture here in the slide we've got a picture of La Mariana restaurant. The waterfall there. And it is a beautiful place and it's got a lot of atmosphere. But as others have pointed out, it's kind of a amalgamation of lots of artifacts that originally came from many different places. So it wasn't designed as a cohesive whole. On the bottom picture, however, we've got the Wailana coffee shop, which is on most of it looks like the Jetsons, as you said. But there is a small, round, ticky-themed bar to the right of that dining room, which still carries that on. That's the behind of it. And these are the two only left. And the top picture is where we take our guest that was our friend Will Bruder when we took him there. And in the evening with Don, you know, that's the place we take them to show off the exotic legacy we have, which is sort of a little, you know, scary. We've lost a lot of it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Especially if, because I travel, too, and the next picture is now I'm going to make you feel bad, even more bad. Because in Munich, we have in the most upscale, expensive hotel in its basement, there is an institution that was one of your sponsors on the conference, which is Tradervichs. And there is one of the few ones in the world that's been there since the 70s. And you will be jealous if you go there one day. You know, I was lucky enough to have my best friends around me and our tropical tourist expert, Suzanne, who was with us. And we celebrated in true, ticky style. That's right. And I think I see, you know, someone there in the back who is coming. Well, I can see there's a picture down at the bottom of this lovely lady sitting in the peacock chair holding up the menu. My goodness. So they can see you. And what do you have in here? Oh, for me. Yeah. For me. I unwrap it here. Oh, my God. This is, this is totally. And look, there's the menu. There's the menu. There's the menu. And you got to learn German because of, of course. So it's got, it's, it's in English. It is my pleasure to offer you these drinks. But then the drinks and everything are, well, they have English names, Scorpion, Menehune juice, suffering bastard. And there you go. There you go. Okay. I'm very smug. I have. Look at the cool things I have. Yeah. Yeah. And you gave us nice gifts as well. You have old money from Germany. That's right. You have this piece is exactly from a Suzanne's date of birth. So thank you for that. That was sort of our returning the favor. It is. It is. It's worthless money because it has no value anymore. It's pre-euro, but in any case. It's very valuable. I got the better deal. Okay. Thanks for that. So let's, let's move on here. Next picture. Another feature of Tiki is, is water. And this is the hotel lobby of the hotel you stayed in. Correct. And you can see that they use the giant clamshells as part of the, as part of the waterfall. And the giant clamshells are now endangered. But for a long time in the fifties, sixties, they were all kind of all over the place. It's this beautiful exotic thing. And in the bungalows, the special high-brace bungalows of the, of the Kaua'i Surf. Yeah. That you were used as. And you being from here, you got to tell me, because I keep walking on the beach. And when is the best time to find them here on the beach? Well, you're going to have to dive very deep to find them. Keep going until you find them. Yeah. And I think in, in our show about the Cocoa Palm Resort, we set there actually from Tahiti. Yeah. Right? All right. All right. So another version of water next page here is since we, this is in the courtyard. Another version of water that's very familiar to us here in Hawaii, right? We got a couple of these as natural features. Yes, we do. And here is this artificial waterfall, which you pointed out with a lava rock wall as the background. So there's Hawaii again. And the next page is sort of, we always have the tradition of phasing out with some polemic propositions here. And the top right, since we just had Suzanne here, this is a shot of her tropical tourism show. And this is her visiting one of the other tropics, which was Brazil. So we Germans. And one of the main Tiki scholars we have to mention is a fellow German friend of yours. Sven Kirsten. There you go. And Sven is actually very important because he really started the entire Tiki revival and the re-examination of it, which he did in Southern California because like you, he always wanted to move to the USA. He did. He was fascinated by it. And so you Germans, we have to thank you for many things. We're crazy about you. You're crazy. I know that. That's for sure. So being crazy, here are some propositions that you've been examining. Right. So here are things that some of Martin's classes have done in their work. At the top is Primitiva 1, which has water flowing down through the center of this tall cylindrical building. Primitiva 2 on the bottom has water curtains like the waterfall that we just showed you as if they were walls or exterior walls. We've got the free-floating stairway on the right, which is very much like the Tiki or mid-century era. They're sort of skeletal and not built in as very heavy-duty things. And then down at the bottom, that's like, those are an exterior wall, wooden wall that had, what's it got on it? Yeah, it's a tropical textile project and the staircase is in the middle and just like we love to drink, you know, water, I think the vulvig water, it implies in the name that it's filtered through volcanic stone, and that was the proposition in that building that you basically have the rainwater catchment on the roof and you basically filter it through a rock wall, a lava rock wall in the center. And so again, all these projects are basically taking a more evolving take on culture and using water and not just decoratively, but performatively. And also too, that's the way we get our drinking water. That is mimicking the way the natural flow of water through the basalt is to get the water we drink. So our basically encouragement is not to be too overly nostalgic, but sort of be aware of the taking culture as something that has to evolve and not to be stagnant or even worse to go back in time, which we unfortunately experience. And let's get the next page. We already talked about that, but now I took another close-up picture when I was at the airport last time because the airport, Ossipov, having given it a very clean, modern look, and all of a sudden it's growing these horns. Right, right. And they look kind of like the roof treatment of the hotel that I was staying at, but those were from an older time period, and I think you and I both are not particularly happy about grafting these artificial things onto what was originally a cohesive building to put on this kind of Polynesian pop primitive sort of faux canoe prow slash rafter. And I think the reason is one of the reasons is because you can probably be philosophical about the authenticity of fakeness and talking about way back there weren't authentic ancient, but they were done because materials were still pure and local. And, you know, so there was some authenticity, some truth to them. Whereas, you know, as we diagnosed in our show, couple of shows ago, we took pictures of when this thing was going up. And this is all like layered and layered and layered of invasive material. And it's basically a fake front. It's just make up over something that's truly not from here. This is all stuff, you know, from the mainland. So this is really like Disney ish, you know, complete, complete. I agree with you, Brian. Yes. And talking about, you know, being open about the evolution of culture, the next picture here, your conference also had had other exhibits that were less obviously related to Tiki, right? Right. But there were also old cars from the mid-century period, from the time period that we were talking about, that was being celebrated here. And I think that the cars of that time period, as you can see here, were sculptural as well. They have these protuberances, they have funny forms sticking out of them that go along with the type of Tiki architecture they were doing then. But we don't make cars like this anymore. So we don't necessarily want to make buildings the way they were making in those days. Good point. And again, me competing with you on my summer experiences, next picture, we went to a car show as well here. One of the main events in my hometown in Hanover is American car show. And my best friends, Stefan and Kirsten, they took us there. And so we were also exposed to talking sort of freaky Tiki and monster. We found this truly 70s woody wagon. And there were these stickers in the back window that says Hawaii Zombie Hunting Permit. So that is sort of interesting, right? That's certainly not traditionally Hawaiian take on, but it takes a different interesting route. One of the things we were talking about was that there's this amalgamation of tropical cultures all put together for the Tiki thing. So you've got the Caribbean, which is where zombies come from. You've got maybe Brazil, you've got Mexico, you've got the Caribbean, and then you've got the Pacific Islands. And everybody sort of lumps them together and says, oh, that's a tropical paradise. And let's go to the next page and add something. Let's add Cuba to that, right? Cuba to that. There's a license plate that I saw at Tiki Oasis that I believe says Cuba Tiki and then you of all things in Germany. See a Volkswagen van made in Germany that's then displayed as though it was in California. Exactly. But then over the wheel, it says hang loose, which is truly a Hawaiian term. Right. Right. So it's again, this mix and blend of things. And we're phasing out with a project that next page or a last page here. What is that? Well, I know that that is your son's project and it is a shave ice wagon. It is like a lunch wagon and it's being created in Germany. And he's what he's done is because his father is an architect. He's done a really cool job with this. And he's done a lot of detailing on it. And it's called Aloha Shave Ice, which presumably people in Germany will understand, painted it in a rainbow of colors and put these exterior vertical, vertical boards on that make it look a little bit like some of those Tiki things that we've been seeing. And again, this is a family project. You can see his brother and his girlfriend there. And his dad was involved, as you already said. And it's sort of this, obviously, fascination with Hawaii, but it's not in an ancient way. It's not about sort of this way. It's about a newer tradition, which is shaved ice, which he taught me is fairly old, too, from the 20s or 30s. And Japanese brought it. Absolutely. It is something that the Shave Ice Machines were made in Japan. And it's a good example for that. We don't need to get stuck in the ancient forever. We're cool enough here, literally, in figuratively, where you talk about ice to evolve and keep that sort of richness and value of Tiki notion alive and evolve that, right? Exactly. An interesting side note was when Joey was going for startup funds from the state, he ended up being talking to the guy there, who is a historian, who was wearing a Loa shirt and who has visited, guess what? The bishop is here many times. So things come full circle. I know. And this is in Germany, my dear. Exactly, exactly. So with that, we're at the end of the show. We're going to see each other in two weeks to talk about something interesting that we called Arche Nature and the relationship between architecture and nature and some very pressing ways of some things that happen here, that they tear down old buildings and they want to build new ones and then they don't and stuff like that. Yes. And in between next week, we're going to have our new dean of architecture, Dr. William Chapman, who is very close to us. Body of mind. Pretty much talking about similar issues and how our School of Architecture could sort of evolve along these lines. So until then, stay Tiki. Bye-bye.